NSTA is presenting a series of eight web seminars on the practices described in The Framework for K-12 Science Education, released in 2011 by the National Research Council (NRC). The Framework describes the major practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas that all students should be familiar with by the end of high school and is being used to guide the development of the Next Generations Science Standards.

Each web seminar focuses on a particular practice outlined in the Framework (see below) and will provide teachers with information on:

the key elements of the practice;

how the practice is part of the broader set of practices that work together (and how no practice is taught in isolation);

how the practice can be used in combination with disciplinary core ideas and crosscutting concepts to form performance expectations; and

what the use of the practice really looks like in the classroom.

The practices included in the Framework (and eventually the NGSS) represent current research about how students learn best. Teachers are encouraged to learn more about these practices now in advance of the release of NGSS and begin incorporating them into instruction to provide students the skill sets they need to be successful in learning any content.

The web seminars will be a valuable professional development experience for any science educator, but will be especially practical for those at the middle and high school level. They will also be helpful for science coordinators, supervisors, state science supervisors and others.

The web seminars are offered free of charge and are designed so that participants can attend just one or all eight sessions.

They will run from 6:30-8:00 pm Eastern Time every other Tuesday starting on Tuesday, September 11.